Report No. 77
9.2. Need to attract bright young law graduates.-
It is, therefore, essential to attract young bright law graduates and lawyers of the right calibre to the judiciary. This can only be done if there are good pay-scales for the judicial officers. It is, no doubt, true that the pay-scales of the judicial officers should normally be such as fit in with the general pattern of pay-scales of government officers of equivalent rank in other departments; it has, at the same time, to be borne in mind that bright young lawyers can earn much more in the profession.
Unless, therefore, we are going to be content with mediocrity manning our judicial services, some allowance would have to be made for the consideration that by sticking to the profession, bright young lawyers can earn much more. One way of meeting the objection that there should not be much disparity between the pay-scales of judicial officers and those in other government service is to give higher initial pay to a judicial officer by taking into account the number of years he has practised in the profession.
It is also noteworthy to observe in the above context that unlike people joining other services, those entering the judicial service do so at a higher age because of the requirement about practice at the bar for a certain number of years. Keeping in view the fact that the age of retirement is the same for both judicial officers and those in other branches of administration, it would follow that the judicial officers would be putting in less years of service.